Coping with body image changes following a disfiguring burn injury.

The influence of emotion-focused coping on distress following disfiguring injury was examined. Two types of emotion-focused coping (i.e., venting emotions vs. mental disengagement) were assessed in 78 patients with burn injury at baseline during acute hospitalization. Body image dissatisfaction (BID) was assessed 1 week and 2 months following discharge. Use at baseline of both venting emotions and mental disengagement, compared with use of only one or neither of these coping methods, was associated at the 2-month postdischarge follow-up with significantly higher BID related to nonfacial aspects of appearance and with a greater negative social impact of disfigurement. D. M. Wegner's (1994) theoretical model of mental control and a proposed motivational analysis are used to interpret these findings.     

Generative Neo‐Cyberculture in the Modern Seminary

Four faculty discuss how their institution's launching of a program to implement instructional technology across the campus influenced their teaching and broadened their understanding of student learning. Examples of their first attempts at online projects for classes in homiletics and ecclesiology are described.     

Social representations of history in Malaysia and Singapore: On the relationship between national and ethnic identity

Social representations of history were investigated using surveys among university populations of ethnic Malays, Chinese, and Indians in Singapore and Malaysia. Representations of history and historical leaders tended to be hegemonic or consensual, showing low levels of conflict across ethnicity and nationality, even regarding the separation of these two nations. Tendencies towards in-group favoritism and ontogeny were slight, but statistically significant on some measures. National and ethnic identity were positively correlated, with ethnic identity stronger than national identity in Malaysia, and strongest among Malays in Malaysia. National identity was strongest among Chinese in Malaysia, followed by Chinese in Singapore. Results of regression analyses on national identity suggest that ethnicity is more sensitive in Malaysia than in Singapore. Results are interpreted through the frameworks provided by social representations theory and social identity theory. It is argued that hegemonic representations of history are associated with positive correlations between national and ethnic identity.     

Decision resource consultancy: a convergence of disciplines that aid consumer marketing

When companies recognise the limitations of seat‐of‐pants decision making, it is not always immediately clear where to turn in order to procure the information and advice that can result in better business decisions. The chosen resource might be a research agency (assumed to be fast‐acting); a management consultancy (likely to be reassuringly expensive); or sources in the academic world (popularly seen as ‘leading‐edge’). What is delivered will depend on the type of supplier chosen: so far, each of these resources has developed in isolation, with its own assumptions, methods and codes of conduct. Nowhere is this more starkly seen than among providers of qualitative research, the discipline that gave birth to focus groups and marketing‐oriented depth interviews. Depending on the supplier, the client may be provided with research that is process‐based, skills‐based or knowledge‐based. The design, practice and analysis of the research will differ accordingly. In this paper, it is argued that the time has come to establish a new form of business consultancy which understands the strengths and weaknesses of these three traditional approaches, which can offer research brokerage that makes available the most appropriate techniques, and which can bring together the distinctive offerings of market‐research agencies, universities and management consultancies as a total resource in helping clients to make optimal decisions. An acceptance of new kinds of professional alliances will be required, as ‘meta‐consultants’ look for cooperation, not competition, among those who are based in each of these three domains. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Associated Functional Impairments During Pregnancy: Some Consequences of Violence Against Women

Despite the high prevalence of violence in the lives of women of reproductive age, and the adverse consequences posed to pregnant women suffering from PTSD, few studies have examined violence-related trauma and PTSD among pregnant women. A structured research interview was administered to a convenience sample of 85 prenatal care women to collect information regarding their experiences of violence victimization, PTSD symptoms related to violence-related traumatic events, and whether these symptoms impaired various aspects of the women's daily functioning. Results indicated that 69% of the women experienced a violent traumatic event, with the majority of events occurring before the current pregnancy and being perpetrated by the women's intimate partners. The traumatized women evidenced high levels of PTSD symptoms during pregnancy, with 58% of the women meeting criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. Moreover, many of the women with PTSD symptoms reported that the symptoms adversely affected aspects of their daily functioning.     

A social dilemma perspective on recycling

Recent research on social responsibility has largely focused on firms, with only limited research into individual behavior. Recycling is socially responsible behavior which poses a difficult choice for consumers because it benefits society as a whole in the long term but involves a personal cost and does not benefit the individual consumer directly. Previous studies of recycling, however, have only partly explained consumers’ recycling choices. Addressing this gap, this research applied a social dilemma perspective in qualitative and quantitative consumer studies. The findings from the studies demonstrated a positive relationship between a consumer's expectation that others will recycle and his own participation. A social value orientation was found to have a significant moderating effect on this relationship.     

Pre-retirement anxiety: Development and validation of a measurement instrument in a Nigerian sample

Two studies were conducted to develop and provide evidence supporting the construct validity and internal consistency of scores from the Nigerian Pre-retirement Anxiety Scale (NPAS). The measure comprises three dimensions: financial preparedness, social obligation, and social alienation. In the first study, data collected from 424 civil servants supported the proposed dimensionality of scale scores and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha for the full scale = 0. 83). In the second study, data collected from a total sample of 216 employees who were also civil servants from different government agencies likewise supported the internal consistency of scores from the NPAS (Cronbach alpha for the full scale = 0.73), as well as validity. Scores from the NPAS appear to have evidence for research purposes.